Tucker Company initiates ISO certification process

Jeffrey Tucker, CEO of Tucker Company, a logistics company based in Cherry Hill, NJ, has announced that the firm has initiated the process for ISO-9000 certification.

“ISO certification represents an international consensus on good management practices with the aim of ensuring that the organization can time and time again deliver the services that meet the customers’ quality requirements,”

Tucker stated. “Adopting ISO is not only for the certification, but it’s also a commitment to ISO management practices for the benefit of our company, our customers and our carrier vendors.”

Darin Day, general counsel at Tucker Company, has been given the responsibility for managing the process of ISO certification. “We decided to pursue ISO certification to give the company a chance to take a close look at what we do and ensure we’re doing everything as efficiently as we can. It will also improve our service to customers and foster greater efficiency,” Day said.

“Also, this positions Tucker Company to become more of a player in the international arena because so many overseas shippers, carriers and freight forwarders are ISO certified, and they tend to look for partners who are likewise ISO certified. This will give us a distinct advantage as we pursue business in the global market,” Day added.

It will take about eight to nine months for Tucker Company to complete the certification process. “Of course that’s just the beginning. ISO certification means only that you’ve demonstrated an ability to document your work flow procedures and a commitment to continually review and improve them. It’s an ongoing process,” Day stated.

Day explained that the process for certification involves breaking down the firm’s activities into 20 core procedures. The next step is to further refine each core procedure into sub-processes, documenting what must be done in a step-by-step method. This documentation applies to every aspect of the company. For example, there will be documented detailed processes for customer service, sales, and accounting.

Tucker Company will then rely on this information to audit its performance to ensure quality and consistency, to train new employees, and to help current employees remain sharp.

“Every customer will benefit from our being more efficient and more consistent in delivering our services,” Day said. “Everything we do will be more transparent and accessible to our employees and customers. ISO will also allow us to allocate our resources more efficiently and devote our time and energy to those things that really matter to customers. There will be constant feedback from customers built into every process.”